Jack and Lauren: Alone at Last
by Spyguy
Summary: Jack and Lauren get closer, as she screams.


Lauren walked out to her car, like she had on so many days, and made that same call to her new "friend", like she did every day. One day they would rule the world. Not together, she didn't need him for that. But he might think so, at least he would as long as she needed him to.   
  
"So, any news about Jack's investigation?" Sark was practically cooing.  
  
"He's a fool. I just batted my eyes like his wife must have done and he was mine. He'd never think I could be the one causing them so much trouble."  
  
"And your husband?"  
  
"He's such a boy scout. He'll never leave me. Not while I keep coming home to him. After I've seen you, of course."  
  
"I have to go. Same time tomorrow?"  
  
"Of course, darling." She smiled demurely as she ended the call. She enjoyed the power she had. The power that came from knowing you're a beautiful woman that men will do anything for. She reached in her purse for her keys.  
  
'That little Manx!' Jack thought as he turned off the laser mic. He put it on the passenger seat and got out of his car. Only Lauren would have known about the plane's departure point for North Korea. She never went to DC that day. And Marshall had picked up the phone calls as he was scanning the cell traffic for fun. At first Jack had thought it could be she was just running around on Vaughn, using the time-honored tactic of using a different phone. But hearing this call, Jack knew better.  
  
He arrived behind her without being heard. Rubber soles. Maybe the North Koreans _were_ good for something. He tapped her on the shoulder.   
  
She had been rummaging for her keys, and like a blond in a horror movie she didn't get to them on time. She spun around and screamed, startled by Jack's tap.  
  
"Jack! You scared me to death!"  
  
"Sorry about that. And this."  
  
"Wha-?" She couldn't finish asking before Jack had knocked her out with hard left cross.   
  
When Lauren awoke, she couldn't see anything. The room was dark, dank, and damp. She could hear dripping water. She could also feel tthe restraints on her wrists, waist, and ankles. Her face was throbbing where Jack had hit her. She tried to scream out, but discovered the dirty rag in her mouth. It tasted like lacquer, and the smell was already giving her a headache.   
  
A bright light blinded her, and she thrashed about, The restraints causing a searing pain as she did so, until he removed the gag and spoke.  
  
"Miss Reed, we both know how this ends. My hope is that you'll rediscover something of who you once were and come clean before the end." 'Every attention-starved daddy's girl thinks she's really an angel.'  
  
"Jack, what are you doing? When my father hears about this-"  
  
"Your father doesn't care about you. Isn't that why you did it? To prove to him that you could play with the big boys in the real world?"  
  
"What are you talking about?! I haven't-"  
  
"YOU are disloyal. You were talking to Sark in the parking lot. You are his co-leader. You are Covenant, and you are going to die." 'Let's hope she thinks she isn't if she talks.'  
  
"Jack, I know what it looks like, I am just playing him, I'm a double, I was going to report everything after-"  
  
"Save it. Dixon wouldn't send you undercover if you were the last agent in this office. Heck, even I would use Marshall before you." 'Now, prove me wrong.'  
  
"Jack, I know their operations, I know the leaders, I know that Cole-"  
  
"Sydney already told me about Cole. We've known about Cole since she was taken. My only question is how YOU know Cole. Did you have freed in lieu of bad intel? Did you let him go because of his charm? His moves at the drive-in?"  
  
"Jack, you know they could have killed you any time. They could have killed you in prison. They could kill you. They will kill you after you kill me." 'That will show him, scare him. Doe she get scared?'  
  
"I don't think so. Now, where do you and Sark meet?" 'This is the best part."  
  
"We don't, we only talk." 'Was that a whimper I just used?'  
  
"Wrong answer" Jack smiled as he flipped a switch, and Lauren began to scream. Now she knew why it was damp in there. 

As Lauren's screams subsided, Jack continued to smirk a little as he contemplated his line of questioning. He would need to go deeper-find out how long she'd been against them.  
  
"Jack, I only talk to him on the phone, I swear!" 'I am strong, you'll see.'  
  
"Miss Reed, what makes you think that I am as foolish as all the other men you've managed to woo into thinking that you're harmless? My daughter nearly died because of the information you leaked to the Covenant. I will not allow my objective focus to be blurred by your feigned feminine vulnerability, not when it comes to Sydney." 'Sydney is the object of her hate, the possible reason she married Vaughn, in many ways, she is Sydney's opposite, and resents that fact. How will she react?'  
  
'Again with Sydney! AHHHHH I hate her.' "Jack, come on, we both know you're jeopardizing your freedom here. If they find out what you're doing to me, you'll be put away again, you won't be able to help her."  
  
Jack just flipped the switch again. Lauren writhed and foamed at the mouth. Her perfect hair was tousled, her pants got that embarrassing dark spot (sorry for that, but it's better than blood, right?) and when the pain stopped, she cried. Not the cry of a hurt little girl, but the cry of someone ashamed. That cry that comes from having your inmost thoughts betrayed and derided. The cry that comes from having your entire facade torn down.   
  
Jack relished the crying. He knew she was ashamed, weakened, and now he would have to let her lift herself up in his eyes. But he would determine how.  
  
"I must admit, when I first met you, I was fooled by your supposed love for Mr. Vaughn. I thought that you were just another couple. But now I see that you are just as skilled as Irena Derevko. Maybe more so."  
  
"It was easy!" She cried out. She knew there was no escape now. It was just a matter of picking when to start lying to misdirect him. It was a matter of giving him a chance to exonerate his wife by letting her go. "Michael was so destroyed. He loved her more than anything. He still does! All I had to do was be a shoulder to cry on, a comfort in a time of despair, just like his mother was after his father died. I almost laughed after our first date. I knew he was putty in my hands. All I had to do was suggest that maybe he could leave the CIA to overcome his grief. He left the next day! He was mine. He still is! He will come for me, Jack. He will hurt you."  
  
"I think not. Do you know what Irena did to his father? Of course you do. Once he knows that you are her, you will fall from grace. Once he knows that you used him, that you tried to have him killed by leaking information, he will kill you. Or thank me after I do. You must know this. You are an intelligent double-agent. Only I know that you are here. And 'Michael' will know as soon as I email him the video feed of our conversation. I'll turn it off before I kill you. I don't think Sydney could bear to see him grieve for seeing you die."  
  
"Jack, I-"  
  
"Save it. Where do you and Sark meet? It must be somewhere neutral, where we can't follow." 'Let her think she's in charge a little.'  
  
"It depends. Sometimes in a restaurant, sometimes in a train station."  
  
"Wrong again." And Jack showed he had the power once more as he flipped the swich, and smelled something that reminded him of the few times he changed Sydney's diapers. 

Jack looked at the now-unconscious lump of defeat lying before him. He removed her outer clothes and turned on a near-by hose.   
  
Upon being sprayed, Lauren screamed again. She thought she might drown becasue of the onslought of water that was coming at her. Jack turned it off, and resumed his inquiry.  
  
"Once again, where do you meet?"  
  
"Getting your jollies, you dirty old man?" Her comment was met by more spraying.  
  
"No. Just getting rid of the smell. Did you have Indian food for lunch, because I was reminded of my time there by that smell. Once again, where do you meet?" He lifted the hose as he asked her.  
  
'I can't believe how vulnerable I feel. Time to negotiate for a blanket.' "At the mall, in the dressing rooms of Victoria's Secret. Every third Wednesday at 6. Can I please have a blanket Jack? Please! I know you don't want to ogle me, and I don't want to be cold."  
  
'I'll give in here, make you think you can go on if you talk.' "Sure. here." Jack said as he covered her with a blanket from a shelf he was stanfding near.   
  
"Now. Call him and arrange a meeting at the same location. For tonight."  
  
"He's not in LA. He can't make it tonight."  
  
"Tomorrow then." Jack fished her phone out of his pocket, scrolled to the last call made, and dialed it as he held to her face. He heard the "hullo" as he held it there.  
  
"Darling, we need to meet tomorrow at the usual place. I'll be there in spades." Jack grabbed the phone away from her face, and spoke directly.  
  
"I know that was a code. I have her. If you want her back, you'll come to LA tomorrow. Are we clear?"  
  
"What do you want in return?"  
  
"You. We'll take you into custody and let her go to your handlers to tell them the story. I have everyting from her I could get. You now. We need to talk as well. I'll call later with details." Jack hung up the phone and just glared at Lauren.  
  
"You're a foolish little girl, do you know that? I saw right through that code. How we haven't discovered you until now is beyond me."   
  
Lauren began to laugh. "I won't talk any more. You've never broken a deal with him. You've always kept up your end. I'm not saying another bloody thing." 'Victory is mine!'  
  
"That's where you're wrong. I never said I wouldn't disfigure you." And with that he ripped of the blanket and placed her left thumb between the blades of some shears he had grabbed fromt he shelf next to him.  
  
"Who else do you contact and how?"   
  
"I won't say! You won't!" She screamed as her assumption cost her a thumb.   
  
"This little piggy went to market. Which one stayed home Miss Reed?"  
  
"I talk to Cole! I talk to another man who calls me on that phone! Analyze its history. I was recruited after I was denied field clearance. I wanted to prove myself to my bloody hands-off father who never showed me anything remotely resembling love. Just loathing and disappointment that I was too much like my mother that he left."  
  
"Who recruited you?"  
  
"I can't. . . "  
  
"Wrong answer." He then took her right thumb.   
  
"All right, all right, it was Sloane! Sloane recruited me! He did it. He wanted to get Sydney back for betraying him, so he sent me to Michael. Sloane . . . "  
  
And Jack took a step back. He would need to have a conversation like this with Arvin someday. Someday soon.  
  
"I'm afraid, Miss Reed, that since you tried to kill my daughter, that Mr. Sark will not be getting his deal honored this time. I'm sorry." Jack screwed the silencer on the gun in his hand, and Double-tapped her in the head as she looked on in dismay. He was sure she knew more, but Sark would give them whatever she didn't. So would Sloane. Very soon.


End file.
